And that's a Wrap!

              Gardening has been all about being outdoors this year, rather than in on the computer. Lots of progress to report, and some failures. Just as you would expect! Another very hot and dry summer, with a very late frost (June 6) and a very early one (September 24). Challenging for gardeners.
An example:

Glorious flowers on my 'Juliet' hardy cherry bush.











 Two weeks later:

        Killed by frost. I had a few cherries develop, but none ripened. And I was so hopeful of having a really big crop this year! All three of them, even though they bloom at different times, were the same.It was a bad year for apples as well - my big 'golden delicious' had very few fruits, and the three oblique cordons (added a honeycrisp this year) didn't have any. I planted three pears this year, also oblique cordons.  Raspberries were good, though. Some year I am going to have all the fruits. 
        The Veseys sale was great as usual, and this year I was able to get some actual plants. Five different hydrangeas: Let's Dance Blue Jangles (I know, I said I wouldn't buy any more macrophyllas, but this was in the heat of the moment at the sale!), Bobo, Fire Light, Limelight (all panicles) and Incrediball, a smooth hydrangea, an improved 'Annibelle'.  Also 'Fluffy' a Western arborvitae and a heptacodium micronoides, small tree with white blooms and red in fall. All were $5 each and were quite small, so I potted them up and kept an eye on them until July, when I planted them out - all but 'Fluffy'.

All the hydrangeas went into the 'hydrangea' area - I now have 28! - but there are some I don't have names for, as I propagated them and didn't keep a great record of which went where. I did find a propagated 'Glowing Embers' hydrangea this year, it is just on the lower left in the photo. It identified itself by blooming at the same time as the parent plant, and with the same bloom. The renewed bark path is looking well, I think! Can't wait until it is all overhung with hydrangeas, blooming. 

         Then, in August, visited Kent, and they were having a 75% off sale on all their remaining shrubs and trees. Got a Cornus Kousa 'Venus', a chamaecyparis nootkatensis 'Pendula', and four rhododendrons: 2 Kalinka, Helsinki University, and Aglo. Also a clematis, Multi Blue, for a total of $82.  Two of the rhodos went on the west side of the path above, to join 5 others, and one went into the gap in the spruce hedge and the last one in the woodland garden. We have increased the light levels in there this year by cutting down several pinus niger which have gotten too large and ungainly. This will make things interesting in the spring, as I see what difference it makes to bloom times on some of the snowdrops and other bulbs in there.






A new project this year: I made a cutting garden.

Took one of the beds from the vegetable garden, and made a new one beside the path, and then divided each bed so I had four, with carpet paths between.  I grew all the plants from seed, except the gladiolus. The orange cosmos were great, EXCEPT that they only lasted about a day in the vase before dropping petals. They were much more prolific than the usual pink-and-white ones, though, so I saved seed again for next year. The white centaurea were good; but I got seed from Stokes for centaurea 'Sweet Sultan Mix', and they were simply wonderful. The nicotiania 'perfume mix' were much too small to pick. I had two kinds of zinnia, State Fair, which were tall and gorgeous, and Zahara Raspberry Lemonade, which, again, were too small to cut. On the trellis is perennial sweet pea, which have no scent but look like orchids! Looking forward to more bloom from them next year.  The glads were still producing, but I had to get them indoors, so I dug them last week. Next year, more staking for them! There are still dahlias, killed by frost of course, but I haven't got them out yet. The garage is going to be full when I'm done. Another great plant was the euphorbia marginata, I have saved seed from that one as well. I just had five survive to adulthood, but I plan to have many more next year. They are lovely on their own and will make great foliage if I get enough!